VMware is seeing strong momentum as sales of its software-defined data center technologies overtake sales of older computing-based technologies such as ESX and vSphere, and as sales through Dell and non-Dell OEMs continue to grow.

Not limited to a handful of powerful vendors, the hyper-convergence market has bucked predictions and added more hardware and software vendors. Here are 10 of the coolest hyper-converged products of the year -- so far.

Lenovo's OP@L project pairs Lenovo hardware with Red Hat's NFV software stack. The solutions are intended to help the telecommunications industry build out data centers using open source technology to keep the solutions flexible and cheap.

Nutanix caused a stir on Twitter last week after holding a party in Vegas featuring scantily clad female venue staff. One of the hyper-convergence startup's top execs has vowed to quit if it happens again.

VMware's acquisition of Arkin, a startup whose technology provides visbility into security and operations in virtual environments, could make NSX software-defined networking more attractive to customers.

HPE CEO Meg Whitman tells CRN the HPE Enterprise Services-CSC merger creates a pure-play global services company that can innovate faster and then sounds off on how software containers make VMware a 'less strategic' asset for Dell-EMC that may actually 'shrink over time.'

Nutanix, the top startup in the market for hyper-convergence technology, goes after smaller customers with a scaled-down version of its technology, in a bid to attract new customers before its planned IPO.

Doron Kempel says selling hyper-convergence can be challenging for solution providers, but success will come from taking business from competitors that are unprepared or hesitant to embrace the technology.